Thought the electric bike SUV trend was just a fad? Possibly not. Italian brand Thok is the latest to have a go at this all-terrain do-it-all style of e-bike, and it’s calling its creation the MIG e-S. Currently there are only a few other ‘SUV’ style e-bikes, and we’ve ridden two of them: the Specialized Turbo Tero X, and the Canyon Pathlite:ON 9 LTD SUV. So how does this offering from Thok compare?
Thok is an Italian brand that largely sticks to mountain biking, but the new MIG e-S is a new direction for them. It uses their MIG frame, which is an all-mountain eMTB, so think slack geometry and lots of suspension travel.
It as, as far as we can tell, exactly the same frame, but with the addition of mudguards, a pannier rack, different tyres and lights for the front and rear. If we were being a little bit sceptical, we'd ponder whether this actually is a new bike, or whether it's just the MIG repurposed for a new market.
Thok says that the MIG e-S is designed for both urban and off-road riding, but is more aimed towards those wanting a comfortable commuter. Sure, mountain bikes are comfortable, but do you need
It’s priced at £4,099 and for that you get a Shimano E7000 drive system with a 630Wh battery, 150mm travel in the fork and 140mm rear shock travel. It’s a pretty slack geometry, too, with a 66° steering angle.
The componentry is pretty standard, with a 12-speed SRAM SX groupset and SRAM Guide T four-pot brakes. 203mm rotors may seem excessive for an ‘urban’ e-bike but if you do take it off-road, you’ll probably be thankful.
The rear rack can handle up to 12kg of luggage, and is MIK compatible. The front light is pretty intense at 600 lumens, the rear less so at 30 lumens.
The weight of the bike without accessories is 23.8kg, but Thok hasn’t listed the weight with everything on there, so we reckon adding on a couple of kilos would result in a sensible estimate.
The big differences between this and the MIG eMTBs are the fact the e-S comes with racks and all that jazz. The mountain bikes use both Shimano’s EP8 and E7000 systems, and cost more. The MIG-R will set you back €5,990 (roughly £5,185) and the MIG 630, which uses the same Shimano E7000 system as the e-S costs €4,990 (roughly £4,320). Looking at the specs list of both the MIG e-S and the MIG 630, they both look almost identical (barring the accessories mentioned previously), so why the MIG e-S costs £200 less is a question we don't have the answer for.
Compared to other e-SUV’s, the Canyon Pathlite:ON 9 LTD SUV costs £5,249 – although a quick check on the Canyon website suggests they may no longer be selling this model. The Specialized Turbo Tero X, on the other hand, starts at £3,750 with the top of the range model costing £5,500. So from a value standpoint it looks to be on par with the Specialized, but like with any SUV, it depends on whether or not you’ll actually need something so versatile, or if you’d be better off with either a mountain bike or an urban bike.
The Thok MIG e-S is available to buy now from the Thok website and relevant dealers in four sizes: S, M, L and XL. It’s currently available in one colour, powder blue.
